Distinguished Service Awards

The IASLC Distinguished Service Awards recognize the "luminaries" in the field of lung and thoracic cancers- those who are further along in their careers and are more high-level in their field of work- for their outstanding contributions to the field and the IASLC.

On behalf of the IASLC Board of Directors, we thank you for your nominations for these important awards.

Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award

The Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award recognizes an IASLC scientist for a lifetime achievement of scientific contributions to thoracic cancer research. Dr. Paul Bunn’s studies set worldwide standards for the treatment of lung cancer and identified issues of natural history and biomarkers of prognosis and therapy selection. Robert Ginsberg, MD, a thoracic surgeon from Toronto, Canada, earned the first award in 1994 for his contributions to the surgical treatment of early stage lung cancer. Initially named the Scientific Award, the IASLC renamed the award in honor of Dr. Bunn after he served as its executive director and CEO for 10 years.

2025 Award recipient

Solange Peters, MD, PhD

Chair & Professor of Medical Oncology, University Hospital of Lausanne

Switzerland

Solange Peters, MD, PhD, is a full professor and director of medical oncology, as well as the thoracic malignancies program in the Department of Oncology at the University Hospital of Lausanne in Lausanne, Switzerland. She received both her doctorate in medicine and PhD from the University Hospital of Lausanne. After completing her clinical education in medical oncology and molecular biology in Switzerland and Italy, Prof. Peters has specialized in thoracic tumors, lung cancer, and pleural tumors.

Her main fields of interest are new biomarkers discovery and validation in preclinical and clinical settings, multimodality strategies for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as well as cancer immunotherapy. Parallel, she acts as the scientific committee chair and Foundation Council member of the European Thoracic Oncology Platform (ETOP). She was recently nominated as the Strategic Advisory Board President of Paris Saclay Cancer Cluster, as well as President of Oncosuisse, the Swiss Cancer umbrella organization. She also acts as President of the Swiss Academy of Multidisciplinary Oncology (SAMO) and is Vice Director of the Swiss National Cancer League. Prof. Peters is active in the educational programs of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) and European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), where she created the Women for Oncology Committee, and for which she was the youngest President ever for an extended time of three years, 2020-2022. She serves on the Board of Directors of Galenica SA.

Professor Peters has authored more than 500 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, acts as Associate Editor of the Annals of Oncology and of ESMO Open, past Editor in Chief of Lung Cancer, past Deputy Editor of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology (JTO) for several years, and serves on the editorial board of several other oncology journals.

Paul A. Bunn, Jr. Scientific Award Winners

2024: Julie R. Brahmer
2023: Suresh Ramalingam, United States
2022: James Yang, Taiwan
2021: David P. Carbone, USA
2020: Joan Schiller, USA
2019: Charles Rudin, USA
2018: Charles Swanton, UK
2017: Tony Mok, Hong Kong
2016: Roy Herbst, USA
2015: Yi-Long Wu, China

IASLC Scientific Award Winners

2013: David R. Gandara, USA
2011: Nagahiro Saijo, Japan
2009: Bruce Johnson and Thomas J. Lynch, USA
2007: Frances Shepherd, Canada
2005: Thierry LeChevalier, France
2003: Paul van Houtte, Belgium
2000: Daniel C. Ihde, USA
1997: John D. Minna, USA
1994: Robert Ginsberg, Canada

The Adi F. Gazdar IASLC Merit Award

THE ADI F. GAZDAR IASLC MERIT AWARD

In 2019, the IASLC Board of Directors unanimously voted to elevate its recognition of Dr. Adi F. Gazdar to one of its highest honors by renaming the IASLC Merit Award for Dr. Gazdar. The Adi F. Gazdar IASLC Merit Award proudly recognizes and honors Dr. Gazdar’s lifelong dedication to lung cancer research through his pioneering work in molecular pathology. The recipient of the annual Adi F. Gazdar IASLC Merit Award is chosen by the IASLC Executive Committee and is announced and recognized at the annual World Conference on Lung Cancer.

2025 Award Recipient

Pasi A. Jänne, MD, PhD

Senior Vice President for Translational Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School American Cancer Society Research Professor David M. Livingston, MD. Chair Director, Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science Direc

United States

Dr. Jänne is the Senior Vice President for Translational Medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the David M. Livingston, MD Chair at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He also serves as the Director of the Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He is a thoracic medical oncologist and led the Thoracic Medical Oncology Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from 2013 to 2024. After earning his MD and PhD from the School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Jänne completed his internship and residency in Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston. He subsequently completed fellowship training at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Massachusetts General Hospital combined program in medical oncology in 2001. In 2002, he earned a Master's Degree in clinical investigation from Harvard University.

Dr. Jänne's research combines laboratory-based studies with translational research and clinical trials of novel therapeutic agents in patients with lung cancer. His main research interests center around understanding and translating the therapeutic importance of oncogenic alterations in lung cancer. He has made seminal therapeutic discoveries, including being one of the co-discoverers of EGFR mutations, and findings from his work have led to the development of several clinical trials. Dr. Jänne has received several awards for his work, including from the American Association for Cancer Research, the European Society for Medical Oncology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and the Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society.

The Adi F. Gazdar IASLC Merit Award Winners

2024: Kwun Fong
2023: Myung-Ju Ahn, South Korea
2022: Valerie Rusch, United States

IASLC Merit Award Winners

2021: Michael Boyer, Australia
2020: Alex Adjei, USA
2019: Hisao Asamura, Japan
2018: Francoise Mornex, France
2017: Ramon Rami-Porta, Spain
2016: Keunchil Park, South Korea; Sumitra Thongprasert, Thailand
2015: Harvey Pass, USA
2013: James Jett, USA
2011: David Ball, Australia
2009: Giorgio V. Scagliotti, Italy
2007: Peter Goldstraw, UK
2005: Harubumi Kato, Japan
2003: Paul A. Bunn Jr., USA
2000: Desmond N. Carney, Ireland
1997: Heine H. Hansen, Denmark
1994: Norman Bleehen, UK; Yukio Shimosato, Japan
1991: Clifton F. Mountain, USA

Mary J. Matthews Pathology/Translational Research Award

The Mary J. Matthews Pathology/Translational Research Award recognizes an IASLC scientist for a lifetime achievement in pathology and translational research of thoracic malignancies. Dr. Matthews served as a senior investigator and pathologist at the National Cancer Institute’s Medical Oncology Branch. She was pioneer in the foundation of the histologic subtypes of lung cancer and the relationship between those subtypes and the clinical course of lung cancer. Geno Saccommano, MD, PhD, a physician and cancer researcher who dedicated his life to developing a pioneering technique to assist in the early detection of lung cancer was the first to receive the award in 1994.

2025 Award Recipient

Sanja Dacic, MD, PhD

Professor of Pathology, Vice Chair & Director of Anatomic Pathology and Director of Thoracic Pathology at Department of Pathology Yale School of Medicine.

United States

Dr. Dacic received her medical degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the School of Medicine at the University of Zagreb in Zagreb, Croatia. She completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Pittsburgh and joined the faculty immediately after her fellowship in surgical thoracic pathology. She was Professor of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, Director of Anatomic Pathology at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital, Director of Thoracic Pathology Center of Excellence, and Interim Director of the Molecular Anatomic Pathology.

Dr. Dacic has been focused on diagnostic pulmonary and molecular pathology and has been involved in many basic and translational research projects in lung cancer and pleural mesotheliomas that have resulted in over 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles, practice guidelines, book chapters, and reviews. Dr. Dacic was a member of the Editorial Board for the 5th WHO Classification of Thoracic Tumors and contributed as a coauthor to the 4th edition. Dr. Dacic is a deputy editor-in-chief of Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and serves on the editorial boards of high-impact journals.

She served on the Board of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP) from 2015 to 2018. She served as the President of the Pulmonary Pathology Society (2019-2022). She has been a member of the IASLC Pathology Committee since 2010 and served as the chair of the Pathology Committee from 2023 to 2025. Dr. Dacic contributed to the WCLC meeting as invited faculty, program committee member, and abstract reviewer since 2011. In 2020, she was awarded the IASLC Fred R. Hirsch Lectureship Award for Translational Research.

Mary J. Matthews Pathology/Translational Research Award Winners

2024: Erik Thunnissen
2023: Fernando Lopez-Rios, Spain
2022: Rafael Rosell, Spain
2021: Deepali Jain, India
2020: Caroline Dive, UK
2019: Andrew Nicholson, UK
2018: Ignacio Wistuba, USA
2017: Yasushi Yatabe, Japan
2016: Keith Kerr, UK
2015: Ming Tsao, Canada
2013: Tetsuya Mitsudomi, Japan
2011: Philip Hasleton, UK
2009: Masayuki Noguchi, Japan
2007: Fred R. Hirsch, USA
2005: Elisabeth Brambilla, France
2003: Adi Gazdar, USA
2000: Yukio Shimosato, Japan
1997: William D. Travis, USA
1994: Gene Saccomanno, USA

Joseph W. Cullen Prevention/Early Detection Award

The Joseph W. Cullen Prevention/Early Detection Award recognizes an IASLC scientist for a lifetime achievement in the prevention of thoracic malignancies. Dr. Cullen served as the Deputy Director of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Division of Cancer Prevention and Control. He created the Smoking, Tobacco and Cancer Program at the NCI in 1982. The winner of the first award in 1994 was Jesse Steinfeld, MD, the U.S. Surgeon General when the National Cancer Act of 1971 was enacted into federal law.

2025 Award Recipient

Witold Rzyman, MD

Medical Professor, Medical University of Gdańsk

Poland

After completing medical studies in 1986, he began his surgical career as a general and vascular surgeon and continued it as a thoracic surgeon from 1993. In 2006, appointed as Chief Surgeon of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the Medical University of Gdańsk, and in 2008, additionally, as Chief Surgeon of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the Provincial Hospital for Lung Diseases in Prabuty. He was appointed National Consultant of Thoracic Surgery in Poland. Board member of the Polish Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery.

He is the author of over 122 publications. Awarded with numerous scientific awards, including the IASLC Regional Cancer Care Team Award in 2024. Member of the IASLC Early Detection and Screening Committee and the ESTS Ad Hoc Screening Committee. He is the Associate Editor of International Lung Cancer News (IALSC). His surgical research interests include multimodality treatment and minimally invasive surgical procedures in thoracic malignancies. Co-leader of the Gdansk Lung Cancer Research Group, responsible for biobanking.

His non-surgical activity is focused on the implementation of LDCT LCS in Poland and worldwide, being the author of the Polish LCS consensus statement and the initiator and member of the Steering Committee of the Polish LCS pilot program 2020-2023. Co-author of the Polish population-based lung cancer screening program. He is involved in several lung cancer screening initiatives, including the Lung Cancer Policy Network. Nominated to be the author of the Handbook of Lung Cancer Screening for the International Agency for Research on Cancer. PI of four grants: "Pilot Pomeranian Lung Cancer Screening Program" (2009-2011), "MOLTEST 2013" and "MOLTEST-BIS" studies evaluating molecular tests supporting LDCT lung cancer screening, and "MULTIPREVENT" epidemiological study on predicting the risk of multimorbidity based on a combination of LDCT image, genetics, blood tests, demographic, and health data. Eighteen thousand people were screened under these programs.

Joseph W. Cullen Prevention/Early Detection Award Winners

2024: Claudia Henschke
2023: William Evans, Canada
2022: Edward F. Patz Jr., United States
2021: Gabriella Sozzi, Italy
2020 Pan-Chyr Yang, Taiwan
2019: Denise Aberle, USA
2018: Nise Yamaguchi, Brazil; Fadlo Khuri, Lebanon
2017: Carolyn Dresler, USA
2016: Ugo Pastorino, Italy
2015: Jacek Jassem, Poland
2013: Pieter Postmus, Netherlands
2011: John Field, UK
2009: Stephen Lam, Canada
2007: James Mulshine, USA
2005: Nigel Gray, Australia
1997: Clifford Douglas, USA
1994: Jesse Steinfeld, USA

Interested in submitting a nomination?

Nominations for the 2025 Distinguished Service Awards are closed. If you have someone in mind that you'd like to nominate for the 2026 Distinguished Service Awards, let us know! Fill out our form to receive a reminder when the 2026 nomination period opens.

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